Antigua/Barbuda to St. Baths Advice

[capnmatt]

We are chartering one-way from Antigua to St. Martin in a few weeks. One of our legs is going to be 70-80 miles from Antigua/Barbuda to St. Barths. When we did this charter before we went to Nevis and St. Kitts which made all the passages rather manageable, but due to time constraints we have to skip those islands this time. In any case, I am considering a couple options for the passage to St. Barths:

1) Spend all of our planned four nights in Antigua right away, then two nights at Barbuda and then on to St. Barths from there. This would require advance permission from C&I as I've heard they otherwise limit you to 24 hours in Barbuda before you must move along (and we don't want to check out at Barbuda as we've heard it is very inconsistently staffed at this time)

2) Spend two to three nights in Antigua, then head to Barbuda for two nights, then back to Antigua for another night or two, and then to St. Barths. This would make the passage to St. Barths about ten miles more than leaving from Barbuda, but I believe we will likely have a more favorable wind direction versus leaving from Barbuda which would possibly put us on a DDW layline.

My biggest concern is getting to St. Barths at a reasonable time and not being quarantined to the boat the first night - or worse yet, having to anchor at sunset or in the dark. Not sure how early the charter company will allow us to leave for that passage but the general charter clause is that you can only sail after sunrise which will be around 5:45ish. Assuming we can't get clearance to leave earlier than that we will probably be using the iron jib unless we get the perfect wind to maintain a boat speed of 8+ knots.

Any advice or insight in terms of our best course of action for that passage? Like I said, my main goal is to get to St. Barths as early as possible, but crew comfort is a close second to that. Either way it's going to be a long day for my wife, my three kids, and my son's girl friend - who's never been on a boat before.

Thanks,

Matt

[capnmatt]

Just realized I posted this thread here in the multihull section. Going to re-post in the Atlantic & Caribbean forum so please disregard this thread. Mods - if you can delete it feel free.

[contrail]

For what it i worth, there was plenty of light to sail at 5:30, this morning, and barely enough to anchor at 7, this evening. You probably have 13 hours, but obviously, Customs will be closed. I don't know if you can call ahead and get clearance, but they are usually pretty efficient.

[capnmatt]

Thanks contrail - good info to have. Think I'm going to see if I can get the OK from the charter company to push off from Barbuda an hour or two before sunrise to make St. Barts in plenty of time to anchor and clear customs. As long as we don't anchor inside of a reef at Barbuda it is a very easy departure. I'm thinking a couple miles north of Palmetto Point - across from the very bottom of the lagoon. Or maybe inside the point if conditions are settled.